Still alive
by Athese
Summary: Ever wondered why Mikey is so small, and Donnie is so tall? Well, it all happened 6 years ago, The day that Hamato Michelangelo almost died. 2k12. Don t own them...OneShot


"Who are you?" Leo demanded as he drew his twin katana´s. Donnie and Raph followed him and drew their weapons too. They were on the rooftop. The full moon was clearly showing at the clear sky. In front of them were a whole bunch of man. Each with their own weapons.

Much like the purple dragons. At least they thought it was. "I think we can better ask you" The largest man huffed, clearly being the leader. A large scar covered his face. Beginning at his left eyebrow, all the way down to the right corner of his mouth. Crossing his nose and nearly nicking his eye.

"We don´t hafta answer to ya pal." Raph growled and took a warning step. Drawing his sai and pointing it at the man.

"Don´t" Leo warned and stopped Raph by putting an arm in front of them. They were doing their regular patrol and everything seemed just fine. No Shredder, no kraang. Not even a few purple dragons. They were just on their way back to the lair when Mikey saw this kitty walking around the rooftop.

Not having learned from the accident with Bradford he picked it up and insisted on bringing it back to its owner. And the moment Mikey jumped down the alley these man showed up. Observing the three of them closely. They all wore the same outfit. A sleeveless black shirt with a flexible pants.

Each of them had different weapons, swords, kamas, knifes etc.

"Listen, we don´t want any trouble, leave now" Leo growled and pointed his sword at the leader. He, unfortunately, didn´t flinch at the threat and just drew his own weapon, a long sword in one hand and a chain in the other. A spiked ball on the end of it. There was some dried blood around the spikes, which wasn´t any good.

"Boss, boss" An exited voice suddenly echoed through the air. Seconds later 2 man joined the group. "Look what a freak this is" The man grinned and raised his arm. The turtles eyes widened. It was Mikey. The hand was closed around the back of his neck and hosting him up high in the air.

"Let me go" Mikey whined and began to flay with is arms.

Mikey was kicking in the air, trying to break free but he was too short to reach the floor. The man holding him was obviously younger than the rest, and new. He and the other one didn´t have any scars and didn´t have a weapon either. While the other all had a lot of scars and deadly weapons.

The other man grinned wildly and walked over to Mikey. "Look how small he is" He teased and began to poke Mikey´s plastron. Mikey whimpered and tried to kick again but the man held him so he wasn´t able to reach the ground. Forcing him to make useless attempts to break free.

"That´s it!" Raph growled and charged in on the two smaller ones. He knocked one away and kicked the one holding Mikey into the wall. Mikey fell to the ground and stayed there. Watching with wide eyes as his brothers took down the rest of them. Eventually the group realized they were losing to the three turtles and they quickly retreated.

"We´ll meet again freaks!" Their leader growled before they vanished. The laughter of the two smaller ones still echoing through the air. Clearly enjoying their little joke. The three immediately withdrew their weapons and looked over to Mikey. Who was now crying on the floor.

"What´s wrong Mikey, did they hurt you?" Donnie asked worriedly as he kneeled next to Mikey. He sniffled slightly but shook his head. Raph and Leo both frowned. They didn´t understand why Mikey was so distressed, but Donnie did. He noticed how Mikey was clutching his stomach. Something he had only done 6 years ago.

"It is what they said, isn´t it?" Donnie asked and began to rub Mikey´s shell in an attempt to comfort him. This time Mikey nodded and wiped his tears away. "Let´s get you home first" Donnie soothed

Mikey was still crying on their way home. Donnie had his arm wrapped around Mikey´s shoulder while Leo and Raph were watching him careful. And Mikey was still clutching his stomach. Like he was feeling the pain again he had felt all those years ago. But they all knew that wasn´t true.

"Mikey, what happened?!" April yelled when the turtles entered the lair. Mikey was now resting his head on Donnie´s shoulder, even though he was way too small. Donnie led Mikey to the couch and wrapped him in a blanket. Mikey smiled gratefully and glanced over to Donnie as he sat down.

Raph sat down too on the other side and Leo handed him a glass of water. Mikey´s hands were shaking when they grabbed the cold water but he gratefully began to drink it.

"They teased him with his length" Donnie confessed after a few seconds. He could literally feel Mikey shiver in his embrace and he cradled his little brother a little bit closer to him. Mikey smiled slightly and rested his head on Donnie´s shoulder.

April frowned at Donnie´s confession. "I don´t understand, why is that such a big deal?" She bit her lip slightly. Whatever was going on was affecting Mikey, but also the rest. Raph had a caring look on his face, something she had rarely seen, only when any of his brothers got hurt. Mikey was crying and both Donnie and Leo had a defeated look on their faces. But also something else, something like guilt.

Donnie took a deep breath and began to explain

_Food wasn´t always easy to find. Splinter had to go out for hours just to find a tiny bit of food. The turtles were 9 by now. They were growing fast and they were developing good. They already spoke as good as a normal 9 years old child and they were training as ninja´s _

_Each of them had their own weapons with which they practiced with a lot. They loved each other and they loved their father. But food was always a problem for them. _

_All four of them lay awake for hours, ignoring their hungry stomach. They knew they couldn´t, and shouldn´t, complain. Splinter would be gone for hours, sometimes almost a day, just to come back with a tiny can of soup. And something only a bit of bread. _

_They were underfed, Splinter knew it. And he hated seeing his sons suffer. They were becoming weak and they weren´t growing like he was expecting. Donatello and Michelangelo were the tallest, despite being the youngest. Raphael and Leonardo were slightly smaller. but not that much. _

_And they were all so hungry, and although they were, they never complained or asked for more food. They understood how precious it was, and they understood how difficult it was to find. For a mutant rat at least. _

_There were times they were angry at the humans. They threw away so much food, which could practically save their lives. But they did it, they threw it away. And they had to suffer. They had to eat garbage food in order to survive. _

_9 years they had lived like this, in hunger, but they were happy. Hungry but happy. It only went downhill at the age of 9. _

_Mikey and Donnie were the closest. They couldn´t act without each other. Ever since they were babies they were never separated. Mikey would cry when Donnie wasn´t with him and Donnie would cry when Mikey wasn´t with him. That continued and their bond grew stronger and stronger. _

_Mikey was always the one to cook the tiny bit of diner. And today it was soup. It was more than usual. 2 tiny cans of soup. Enough for 5 tiny bowls of soup. Mikey sighed in defeat when he began to fill their bowls equally. _

_"Hey Mikey." Donnie shrugged as he walked in. They didn´t have any energy lately. They were just so hungry. Donnie sank back into the chair and clutched his stomach. Which was growling repeatedly. Mikey´s face shifted. Donnie seemed rather pale and he was sweating, and he was hungry. _

_"Dinner is almost done. Can you get the rest?" Mikey asked, trying to distract Donnie. And it worked. Donnie turned away from Mikey and shouted for them to come for dinner. Using his quick movement he poured half of his soup into Donnie´s bowl and added water to his. So it would look like he had enough too. _

_Seconds later his family came in. With a short sigh he gave everyone their soup. Giving Donnie the largest bowl, with his soup. He ignored the burning feeling in his stomach and slowly began to eat his water soup. _

_That night Donnie came towards him. Smiling. The colour on his skin was back and he was no longer sweating. And for the first time in years his stomach wasn´t protesting that night. While Mikey´s stomach kept on rumbling and complaining but he ignored it. He loved his brother too much, he could handle it. _

_Over the next weeks Mikey continued this. Giving his food to Donnie. He would add water to his soup. Suggest he had already eaten. Wandering off, finding his own food. But most of this was rotten food. Food that Splinter had left behind because it wasn´t healthy to eat. _

_But he did, he did it to give Donnie his food. _

_And over the weeks something happened. The government of New York had changed something. Waiting longer for when the garbage had to be picked up. More and more food was collected by Splinter. They finally had enough to eat without their stomach complaining all the time, but it was still way too little to live on. _

_So Mikey kept giving his food to Donnie. He thought he was doing the right thing. Due to the extra food Leo, Raph and Donnie continued to grow. Donnie even more because of the extra food. _

_And as a result, Mikey grew weaker every day. He would be sitting and sleeping all day. He was just too hungry and he was so caught up in his own world that he blocked out his stomach. For which he eventually paid the price. _

_It was just a normal training. They would practice their back flips. Leo, as always, did his perfectly. Raph wasn´t really interested in back flips but did it anyways. Donnie surprisingly did it just like Leo, perfect. He was finally well-fed and he was bigger than his brothers, leaner, faster and smarter. _

_"Michelangelo, what is holding you up?" Splinter questioned when he saw that Mikey wasn´t doing his back flips. Mikey looked up with dull eyes and continued to clutch his stomach. "My son is something wrong?" Splinter´s eyes filled with worry as he watched Mikey´s shivering form. Just then he noticed how thin his son was, and how he kept holding his stomach. _

_Mikey shook his head. He felt fine, he really did. But then a weird feeling spread in his belly. His face formed into a frown. He whimpered slightly. "A...actually Sensei. I'm not feeling..." He couldn´t continue his sentence and collapsed on the ground. He was sweating all over the place and his breathing was labored. _

_His brothers immediately looked up when Mikey fell. "Mikey!" They all screamed and rushed towards their fallen brother. Splinter was already holding Michelangelo, hovering his upper body. He felt so light and so thin. His bones were clearly visible and his breathing was concerning. _

_Donnie was just in time to jump away when Mikey started to vomit on the ground. They expected to see evidence of food, or anything that would suggest he had eaten, but there was none. Only empty stomach fluid came out of his mouth. Filled with blood. And then he collapsed. _

_They soon found out he was underfed and Donnie immediately understood why. Why Mikey was underfed, why he was so well-fed and why he was so tall and Mikey so short. _

_And it didn´t take long for the others to find out too. _

_Mikey was out for hours, days. and they feared Mikey would die. They didn´t have the right medical equipment so they couldn´t give him the food when he wasn´t awake. Somehow they could manage to get some water in his system but that was also very little. And if he wouldn´t wake up soon he would die. _

_It had been 3 days when Mikey finally opened his eyes again. He was so skinny right now like his body could just slip out of his shell. His bones were poking out of his flesh and he had a really really bad fever. His stomach was somehow infected from all the rotten food and his breathing was bad. _

_It was a miracle he even survived it. He couldn´t hold down his food because of the infection and just because his body would refuse to. _

_Splinter continued to find more food and tried to help his son as much as possible. But his body was at his breaking point and at some point they believed he would truly die. And he was ready to die. He had given Donnie his food, he had spared him the hunger and he was ready to go. He didn´t want to but he was ready. _

_But he didn´t go. Slowly Mikey started to hold down his food and the infection slowly went away after a few weeks. His fever stayed high for weeks after that and he had to stay in bed all the time. _

_Donnie would never leave his side. Always feeding him and keeping him company. Reading him stories and making sure he wasn´t bored. Nobody thought this was a surprise. And even though they didn´t, Donnie blamed himself. He thought it was his fault Mikey was sick, and small. _

_Slowly Mikey became better. He was allowed to move again and there was more food than ever. But the scars would always stay. Leo and Raph continued to grow normally while Donnie grew immense. And Mikey stayed short for the rest of his life. _

_Somehow he didn´t mind. He survived and he was glad he did. But his length would always be a reminder of that horrible time. It would always remember them how hungry they were, how bad the situation was. _

_And how Hamato Michelangelo almost died. _

**_TMNT_**

"That is just horrible" April choked out when Donnie finished the story. Mikey was now leaning against Donnie and had his eyes closed. April had never wondered why Mikey was so small. Or why Donnie was so tall. She thought it was just a normal thing, but now she knew it wasn´t. And she knew why Mikey was so small.

"He almost died on us. And as a result he stayed small. And even today he isn´t entirely back to his full health, and he will never be." Leo sighed and snuggled Mikey something in the blanket. Mikey stirred slightly in his sleep but continued to sleep. Happily leaning against Donnie.

"Back in the days Mikey would always be the best of us. He was strongest, fastest and the best. He could even surpass Leo" Donnie half smiled and pointed at Leo. Despite all other times he smiled and nodded slightly.

"I don´t know what to say guys. I´m so sorry" April said as tears rolled down her cheek.

"It´s okay April. You didn´t know back then. Besides, Mikey is still here with us" Leo comforted her and rubbed her back soothingly. April sniffled slightly and wiped away her own tears.

"Tha knucklehead is still alive" Raph grinned and wrapped his own arm around Mikey´s shoulder. Mikey began to smile in his sleep and switched brother. Allowing Donnie to stand up for a while. Mikey stirred slightly in his sleep, missing the warmth of his older brother but Raph pulled him closer to his body and he happily nuzzled in Raph´s plastron. He cradled Mikey softly and kissed his head.

"Yer still here otouto"

**TMNT**

Alright the end is not really my best :/

Anyways, what did´ya think? :3


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